Saturday, July 27, 2013

Did a Historian Document a Battle Between Vikings and Bigfoots?

"Buliwyf's band establishes that the Wendol are humanoid cannibals who appear as, live like, and identify with bears." -- Wikipedia on Michael Crichton's description of the cryptids in The 13th Warrior

Is it possible that a 10th century historian could have documented a fierce battle between Vikings and Bigfoot? Ahmad ibn Fadlan was an Arab ambassador that was captured by Vikings during a diplomatic mission, the Vikings allowed him to chronicle their adventures. He called them men of the north and his depiction of a Viking ship burial is often references and considered accurate. Other aspects of his adventures border on the fantastic including a battle with Mist Monsters, or as the Vikings called them the Wendol.

Speculation on the Wendol is all over the place, from pure fiction to the last remaining Neanderthals. Michael Crichton's, author of Jurassic Park and Westworld, depicts the Wendol in his screenplay, The 13th Warrior, as humanoid cannibals who appear as, live like, and identify with bears. For Doc Vega of UFODigest.com, the Wendol may be Bigfoot. Doc Vega has written a five-part series on the topic with commentary that includes references to Dr. Jeff Meldrum, Grover Krantz and heavily on Lloyd Pye.

Below we have a short excerpt of Doc Vegas 5-part essay, this is just the initial battle between the Vikings and the Wendols (Bigfoot).

The feared confrontation begins On the first night that Buliwyf and his war party arrived at the Kingdom of Rothgar to the apprehension of Ibn Fadian who thought his Viking comrades to be unprepared to do battle, they feasted, drank, and finally slept. However, Ibn was unable to attain slumber. He lay awake worrying and after barely drifting off, heard animal-like grunts and groans along with footsteps. In the darkest hour of the night with sudden ferocity the gigantic doors to the King’s hall of Rothgar were crashed open. The sleeping Vikings sprang to their feet and began to do battle with the monsters as they savagely attacked from a cloak of mist that had hung over the Kingdom that night.

A gruesome trophy A vicious fight ensued as the marauding Wendol tried to slaughter all there. Ibn himself was picked up and thrown across the room, landing against a wall, and falling to the floor. Herger ran to his side to see if Ibn was all right as the incredible battle raged on. Finally after what seemed like hours, the Wendol withdrew as quickly as they had sprang upon the Vikings. Like phantoms they left with hardly a trace, but there was evidence of their presence there. One Viking warrior had the severed arm of a Wendol which he proudly raised above his head as they others cheered. They examined the arm cut off by a Viking sword. It was muscular and very hairy yet shorter in length than a human arm.

Lloyd Pye attested to the robust structure of Neanderthals. Their dense bone structure that was tougher than human bone indicates also the denser muscles of Neanderthal. As Lloyd puts it, the Neanderthal could pop a human’s head and was probably so strong that it could even take on the predatory cats of their time. Remember that Ibn talks of being picked up and thrown across a room. The Neanderthals were also known to have observed an afterlife as evidence was clearly abundant in archeological ruins that they buried their dead. This is why when the Wendol withdrew from combat they took their dead with them. This also lent credence to their phantom-like reputation among humans who had seen the aftermath of their atrocities and feared them.

Lloyd Pye’s findings shed light on a mystery Keep in mind if what Lloyd Pye attributes to Neanderthal was true, then it was only the superior swordsmanship and weaponry of the mighty Vikings that overcame their more powerful assailants (the Wendol) along with their sheer courage. This might also account for how the inventiveness of Homo sapiens ensured the downfall of the more robust Neanderthal unable to cope with a well-organized and technically advanced species of competing hominids (modern man).

Ibn Fadian evaluated their victory over the “Mist Monsters” as they were called, who had terrorized Rothgar. They had beaten back the Wendol, but there had been a price to pay. One of the Vikings had been wounded badly. The women fixed him a broth of onion and garlic. When it was drank if there was a sword injury that pierced the abdomen or stomach the women could smell the onions and garlic through the punctured flesh and muscle. This usually meant that it was a mortal wound, but the healing powers of the Vikings were legendary as well.

Even though the warrior was perhaps fatally wounded, he laughed and joked with the others and continued to eat and drink as if nothing had happened. This was the nature of the Vikings that often amazed and appalled Ibn Fadian as he accompanied them on their quests and battles. Even in victory Buliwyf was not satisfied of the outcome. They had repelled the Wendol but he and the people of Rothgar knew that this would only lead to another more vicious attack than the first. The next day the Vikings conducted strenuous construction of fortifications regardless of the sleep they had lost. As Ibn walked around exhausted and barely able to stay awake he marveled at the Vikings who worked digging motes, assembling wooden barriers, and fashioning weapons. Ibn was amazed at their tenacity. Soon the night came. The defenses were not finished, but Buliwyf left them as they were and once again as night fell, the Vikings did not feast as the inhabitants of Rothgar agonized over the near future. Neither did they drink mead once again and pass out from intoxication. On this night the Wendol would not come. As the sunset turned to night it was observed that the mist from the highlands was not forming upon the elevated grounds and slopes. This meant that the Wendol, who always attacked beneath the veil of a mist, would not attack without it.

No celebration after the initial victory As was the tradition of the Vikings, the nobleman of Rothgar who had been killed by the Wendol while fighting them, that their bodies were erected at the top of the kingdom’s roof for the prescribed 10 days prior to being sent out to for an ocean burial in fiery vessels. The mood among the Vikings was somber in expectation of the next battle. Ibn still could not figure out the Vikings who seemed to do everything in contradiction to what he would anticipate. According to Ibn Fadian the “Northmen” as he called them (Vikings) who would drink day and night did not do so prior to battle. The severed arm of the Wendol was not strung up on a ceiling beam of the great hall of Rothgar.

So, rather than rejoicing over their victory over the Mist Monsters (Wendol) there was no drinking or merriment. You might recall that there were only two things that Ibn had said the Northmen feared-sea serpents and the Mist Monsters! It is clear that as being perhaps the most formidable warriors in human history, fighting the powerful Wendol who are suspected as being Neanderthals who were massively strong, was no small feat, and little to look forward to. To their credit, the Northmen, as Ibn called them had managed at using their superior skills to defeat a strong and feared enemy.

Doc Vegas' entire series of articles is pretty much pointless, because Michael Chrichton's book, "Eaters of the Dead", is entirely fictional. He used the real historical person Ahmad ibn Fadlan as a character in his story, and the first 3 chapters are reasonably close to Fadlan's chronicles & letters, but that is where the similarity to actual events stops. Fadlan never went to Scandinavia or anywhere else with the Vikings or any other group. He traveled to what is now Russia on the bank of the Volga River as an ambassador. On the way he encountered the Rus people (Vikings) and recorded his encounter, a description of them, and some of their culture that he witnessed, which included a ship burial of one of their leaders. After that, he went on to the Bulgars. Google his name & there are a ton of scholarly articles and sources that bear this out. Here is a lay person's site with lots of info:

You are correct, Shawn O. Crichton even says as much in the book itself (I forgot if it's in the preface or in a note at the end). Decent book, though, and the only way I've ever found Beowulf enjoyable- but then I find novel and deliberate reinterpretations very interesting.

I agree. My wife got it for me for Christmas in 2009, and I read it in a couple of days. Crichton said that he and a friend who was a professor of English Lit. got into a discussion about Beowulf, and his friend argued that there was no way in which the story could be told that would make it palatable for modern audiences. Crichton bet him that he could do it, and the result was "Eaters of the Dead".

I'm recalling the above story from memory, and may have gotten some of the details wrong, but I am confident that I got the gist of it correct.

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